0203 026 3870
Newsom Consulting
Delivering Leadership Talent
Newsom ConsultingNewsom Consulting
  • Sectors
    • Rail
    • Aviation
    • Highways
    • Power & Utilities
    • Buildings
    • Defence
    • Major Projects
    • Transport Operators
    • International
  • Our Services
    • Executive Search
    • Talent Mapping
    • Leadership Assessment
    • Outplacement
  • Opportunities
  • Testimonials
  • Insights
    • Blogs
    • Reports & Guides
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Contact Us
  • Sectors
    • Rail
    • Aviation
    • Highways
    • Power & Utilities
    • Buildings
    • Defence
    • Major Projects
    • Transport Operators
    • International
  • Our Services
    • Executive Search
    • Talent Mapping
    • Leadership Assessment
    • Outplacement
  • Opportunities
  • Testimonials
  • Insights
    • Blogs
    • Reports & Guides
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Contact Us

All Change at Network Rail – 3 ways the restructure might affect you

“The need for radical change is clear.”

Fighting words from Network Rail’s new CEO Andrew Haines this week as he announced his big plans for devolution within the organisation.

At an industry event I attended not too long ago, Haines declared that, from his perspective, Network Rail was first and foremost a service company. His view was NR is not an asset management company, or a capital projects company, or an engineering company, but one that provides a fundamental service to the whole country.

It’s therefore unsurprising that the new operating model aims to align the passenger with train operators for a more cohesive railway, with quicker response times and less bureaucracy.

At the moment Network Rail operates as 8 different routes; each with their own MD reporting directly to Haines (following COO Phil Hufton’s departure last September) and a large central team in Milton Keynes. Under the new model, the 8 routes will increase to 13, and these will fit within five Network Rail regions, each led by a Managing Director.

These will be Scotland, Wales & Western, London North Western, Southern and Eastern.

Each of the 13 routes will have responsibility for delivery of its operations, maintenance and renewals. They will also be in charge of the day to day delivery of train performance and will work closely with the local TOC’s.

These are all major changes, but what’s most interesting from our perspective, is that a number of previously centralised services and functions will also be devolved to region or route level. Including Infrastructure Projects, commonly known as IP.

While Network Rail haven’t released a huge amount of detail on what the devolution of IP will actually entail, this could mean that rather than Network Rail being one unified national infrastructure client, we could likely be regarding them as 5 different regional infrastructure clients.

Although the current 8 routes may take slightly different approaches to projects, they are all broadly similar. These new changes could mean that they all have differing views, develop different strategies, and therefore have different requirements.

So what does this mean for the wider industry and supply chain?

 

1. Upheaval

Staff numbers at Network Rail have grown by over 5500 people in the last 6 years to just over 40,000 employees. Haines’ predecessor Mark Carne promised to reduce the number of staff at the Milton Keynes Head office to under 2000 by the end of his tenancy.

This didn’t happen. So we can expect that this restructure will lead to some job losses across the company.

For the rest of the industry, this is an opportunity to snap up candidates with solid rail and client side experience.

 

2. More opportunities

The devolution of IP is a great opportunity for the private sector. There will be 5 potential rail customers for contractors and consultancies to work with on key projects.

More importantly, the regions will have their own requirements for projects and more control over what they invest money in.

This means that the priorities centralised teams may have favoured could vary per region. Companies who might not have fitted the mould for IP, could now build a relationship with a specific region they are strong in.

 

3. Better decision making

The debate over centralisation vs devolution is one that will rage on until the end of time, and different companies, sectors, business challenges, will compliment one more than the other.

TfL for example are currently in the process of doing the exact opposite of Network Rail and have brought devolved functions back into more centralised teams.

But for Network Rail, a truly vast organisation spanning the entire country, it seems logical that power be given to the people actually out in the region who have the local knowledge.

Devolution should mean that decisions will take into account what the passengers and TOC’s actually using these routes want and need from Network Rail. As opposed to standardised decisions that may not be the best solution for each route.

A prime example of this is the timetabling debacle last year. If the Route MD’s had full control of their timetable and the power to decide when and how the changes went live, perhaps the transition would have worked a little smoother.

If nothing else, there will be clear lines of responsibility and MD’s will be more accountable for future decisions.

 

What do you think of the restructure?

By Jim Newsom18th February 2019

Author: Jim Newsom

Jim Newsom leads our work in construction and infrastructure having worked in executive search since 1998, recruiting for both public and private sector companies in infrastructure, transport, engineering and construction. Prior to forming Newsom Consulting, Jim spent 11 years working for the one of the UK’s largest independently owned executive recruiters and then two years at a boutique search firm. Jim is a graduate in civil engineering from Liverpool University.

Post navigation

PreviousPrevious post:Would you spend $5.25m on an advert?NextNext post:To recruit or not to recruit? – the bid recruitment dilemma

Related posts

Movers and Shakers in Transport & Infrastructure – The Headlines from December 2021
7th January 2022
Movers and Shakers in Transport & Infrastructure – The Headlines from October 2021
1st November 2021
Movers and Shakers in Transport & Infrastructure – The Headlines from September 2021
11th October 2021
Movers and Shakers in Transport & Infrastructure – The Headlines from August 2021
6th September 2021
Movers and Shakers in Transport & Infrastructure – The Headlines from July 2021
5th August 2021
Movers and Shakers in Transport & Infrastructure – The Headlines from June 2021
7th July 2021

To recieve our weekly blogs please fill in your details below:

Recent Posts
  • UK Major Projects Pipeline Update – May 2022
    17th May 2022
  • 3 lessons learnt from Crossrail for future Major Projects
    9th May 2022
  • Movers and Shakers in Transport & Infrastructure – The Headlines from April 2022
    3rd May 2022
Testimonials

UK Power Network Services recently partnered with Newsom Consulting to recruit a key strategic appointment. They provided us with a targeted candidate search and shortlist of candidates from which we were able to make a successful appointment. Throughout the engagement there was senior involvement from Newsom Consulting and they demonstrated deep knowledge of the sector and market. They were patient, thorough and professional throughout the search.

 

Ian Smyth, Director of UK Power Networks Services

Thanks for supporting us in securing some of our industry’s leading talent. Your candidates are always excellent and I find you a pleasure to work with. Looking forward to furthering our partnership in the new year.

Managing Director (Transportation), Faithful+Gould

We recently worked with Newsom Consulting to recruit a key Director position for our UK leadership team. They understood our requirements well, spending time to come and meet with us so they could fully understand our needs. The longlist and shortlist reports were good and very user friendly. Assessment of candidates was accurate and we were presented with a good diverse selection of candidates with different backgrounds. The quality of candidates was first class and we were able to appoint a high-calibre candidate. The process was thorough and good value for money.

Managing Director, STRABAG UK
Newsom Consulting
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Footer Menu

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Newsom Consulting
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.